Chapter 9 : Playful Kiss

"Milly,you never told me we were gonna bake." Mike protested with  his  mouth stuffed with more than the necessary  amount of blueberries his little mouth could hold. I tied a Winnie the Pooh apron around his small frame.It was one of the twin's.They'd left it at mine's after many cooking sprees.

"That's because it was a surprise ."

"You're going to be a big chef one day you know?" I encouraged looking at my masterpiece  apron tie  in satisfaction.

"Yeah,I'm going to bake an enormous  toy train. " he gushed excitedly.

"Yes you will." I said placing a flour coated finger on his nose.

His giggles sent waves of excitement through me.

That boy was seriously committing a crime for being so cute.

I creamed in the butter and sugar as he stood by flying a wooden ladle.

"Can I break the eggs, Milly?"

"Yeah,go ahead. " I encouraged and handed him a transparent mixing bowl.

I went back to my creaming as he had himself engaged.

"Oh ! Mike,You're not supposed to add the egg shells to the yolk. " I groaned  in dissatisfaction .

" But It's the yummy crunchy part." He defended with an adorable pout.I couldn't help but spend the next few minutes fishing for egg shells from the batter.

After sometime, he moulded the batter into cute circles as I greased the baking tray and popped it in the oven to bake.

I flipped the TV channels to Panda Kids where we watched a nonstop marathon of Sponge Bob .

I checked on the cookies in-between breathers and they were coming up just fine.I took it out  of the heat slightly under baked so they'd stay soft and chewy on the inside and lightly crispy on the outside so Mike could munch in it peacefully.

Driiing!

"Milly,the doorbell's ringing!" Mike called from above the loud blare of the TV .

"Who could that possibly be? "I asked myself.

Benji was still at College,Mum at the hotel and Dad at work.

The only left suspect was Mrs Greene and she wasn't supposed to be here since it wasn't time to pick Mike up yet.

I opened the door to meet a smiling  Jay  leaning on my doorway.

I just stood there staring into his gorgeous blue eyes as his bore into mine. Though I wanted to slam the door in his annoyingly handsome face.

"Since you won't let me in I'll let myself in , Parker."He announced barging in like he owned the place.

And there goes our moment.

Mike rushed to him wrapping his legs around him in a hug.

"Something smells nice." he commented throwing himself on the couch after kicking his shoes off.

"Nice home." he said to no one in particular looking at nothingness after settling comfortably on the couch.

I pushed his haphazardly thrown  shoes into a heap and  picked up his socked feet from the couch.

I scrunched my face at how unaffected he felt by literally breaking into my house,well sort of.

"Frowning is not a good look on you.You should try smiling someday." he teased.

"Perv." I said throwing one of his shoes at him.

"Ow," he winced in pain.

I smiled very proud of myself, his shoe had hit him just below his knee.Damn ,my aim was good.

Mike found that more entertaining than his series since he took a break to stare at us and giggle.

I walked,dejectedly to the kitchen  after sometime to continue packing up Mike's cookies into a plastic container for him to take home.

"Can I have one?" Jay asked standing unbearably close, trapping me between the sink and his frame.My heart threatened to leap out of my chest as his eyes scanned my face and finally rested on my lips,no I was being delusional before tucking a stray strand of hair back into place.

I nodded a sure and thrust a plateful towards him desperate to avoid body contact.

My heart raced as he picked a heart shaped cookie and off went a piece.I looked at him expectantly.

He chewed on it for sometime,a smile playing on his lips.

He took the plate from my hands and our hands touched lightly immediately sending a swarm of butterflies through me.

"You didn't say how it tasted."I said with a pout.

He stared at me for sometime before the word

'divine' finally escaped from his lips.

"Mike,your cookies are ready!" I called out from the kitchen.

I didn't get a reply and probably figured he was engrossed in his Sponge Bob watching.

I poured out two glasses of milk  and placed it in a tray,if Mike wasn't ready to come for his snack I'd give it to him.

I placed it on the center table as  Mike and Jay  picked up their respective glasses.I stole a cookie from Jay's plate since he was engrossed in Patrick being his usual silly self on television and slipped back to the kitchen to tidy it  up.

                       ***

"Slap me if I fall asleep." Harry whispered dreadfully.

"Standing?" I couldn't help but stifle a laugh.She shrugged it off as Mr.Manhart  broke into another one of his long boring speeches.

We  all thought this would end like all his lessons but it didn't. He suddenly produced a small glass bowl filled with papers to the front of the circle and ushered James Ofori to the middle of the circle.

James picked up a piece of paper from the bowl the teacher held out.

"Share something intense you've never dared to share." Mr Manhart read out.

James breathed deep and his next utterance made my blood run cold.

"My Mum was murdered when I was fourteen. She hid my sister and I in the cellar and locked us up before they killed her."

His body shook as he spoke.You could see he was battling with past emotions He seemed to have ended but it looked like he had more to add .

"They wanted a way to get to my Father.Through us,through her"

There was loud applause as James made his way back to his place in the circle.No one had ever known that he had gone through such hell.

I was momentarily knocked out of my thoughts when I realized Jay was being asked out.

"Mr Greene , c'mon" he encouraged as Jay placed the unfolded piece of paper on his outstretched palms.

"A volunteer please. A female I presume."Mr Manhart said looking around the circle.

Jay stood defiantly with his palms tucked away in his trouser pocket, head tilted to his side,eyes daring and waiting for his prey.

Jessica made as if to walk out  and I shifted uncomfortably .

Before I could even process what was happening, Harry slapped my butt and I lurched to the front of the circle lucky to have landed on my feet.

" Sure,Miss Parker."Mr Manhart acknowledged

I let out a  groan and swivelled round to give Harry a sidelong piercing eye.She smiled mischievously.

Jessica's face dropped by an inch.

Jay instantly let his hands fall from his pocket and fall to his sides in submission , his facial expression morphing into something I couldn't clearly decipher.

I finally found a string of energy strong enough to drag my self to the gaping space the class had made in the middle.

I stood with an eager pair of twenty eight eyes  glued on me.You could hear a pin drop.

"Convince Camilla you're in love with her Mr Greene."Mr Manhart said taking a step out of the circle.

I could feel Jay tense up when the question was raised.

" Camilla...um.."He started after standing there for sometime.

I didn't understand.This kind of things never posed as problems for Jay.I wondered what was going through his mind making him afraid to say it.

My heart did a little somersault.

I could feel blood cursing in torrents  in my veins under the depths of my skin.

I didn't miss Mabel's snicker.

" Camilla I think... " he paused and looked at me deep with his gorgeous blue eyes.I tried lowering my gaze but I mean who can say no to those haunting features.

His expression changed from  shocked to sly as a mischievous smirk took control of his facial features.

He took a step closer and pulled me near him.Before I had the time to sort out my thoughts,he tilted my chin to meet his gaze and brought his lips down on mine.

Oh My God!He just kissed me right there in front of everyone, a teacher.

He finally let go of me as I looked at him shocked .

When my eyes met with Jessica's, she looked hurt and confused .She visibly winced in pain and I immediately felt bad.

"Not bad Mr Greene, not bad." Mr Manhart coed as the whole class joined in , in deafening applause.

I subconsciously touched my lips with the tip of my finger.

I resumed my spot in the circle but my mind wasn't in the game.I watched on as people danced,acted out scenes from their favourite movies,but my mind wasn't in it all.People drew out quotes from books and poems as I watched on waiting for the clock to tick twelve and I would be out of the lesson.

The clock finally hit twelve and I grabbed my binder and hurriedly walked out of the class.

"Hey...don't run away ." Harry laughed pulling Rachel after me.

"I can't believe he actually kissed you.He's so romantic." Harry gushed soon after we'd taken our seats for lunch.

"I told you he was into you." Harry said with a nudge as Jay passed with Eric to their table.

I  let out a sigh.Rachel wasn't of much help either since she busied herself making kissing sounds.

"I can't believe you pushed me out there Harry!" I finally retorted in response to their pestering.

"Well you got a kiss out of it so..."Rachel opined with a shrug of her shoulders.

"What!" I couldn't help but mutter.

"Yeah,you're even stevens."She added.

" You guys don't understand! "I screamed.

" For goodness sake that boy has a girlfriend .It was my first kiss and you guys know it.But he just took it away from me like that with absolutely no feelings for me.Which one of you would like your first kiss snatched away like that?Tell me!"I screamed as they looked at me with unreadable emotions.

"You claim he likes me.If he liked me I would have been his bloody girlfriend.I would have been the one claiming possession of him.Yet you guys think I find it okay with just a kiss.A stolen kiss!I need some space to think!" I barked.

"You can be angry with who ever but not Harry.She only tried to help!" Rachel defended.

"Yeah,so much for trying to be supportive." Harry scoffed.

There was silence at the table for a while as I looked at them,my face strewn with remorse.

"Thinking of it Camilla,you do need some space to think.So do we." Rachel said dryly getting up.

Harry followed suit as the marched out of the cafeteria not turning back once.

It hit me bad after Rachel and Harry walked out on me since I knew they both craved for me to be happy.

I looked at their retreating figures in agony.

To be actually true to myself,it felt nice to be kissed by the hottest boy in your school especially if you've been harbouring feelings for him for a while now but in this case he wasn't in love with me and the aftermath of that action was ridicule, pain and your topic been discussed in the halls for minimum a week.

It really hurt since I felt he was just using me and in that,took away my first kiss.I was suddenly very mad at him.He was a dick,and it didn't make his any bigger.

Tears glistened in my eyes as I groaned and buried my head on the table.